Clothes-washer.



E. P. WALLACE.

CLOTHES WASHER.

APPLICATION FILED $313.11, 1913.

Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

I'VITNESSES:

SHINGTON D C EMILUS F. WALLACE, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

CLOTHES-WASHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

Application filed February 11, 1913. Serial No. 747,659.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EMILUS F. WALLACE, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in ClothesJVaslr ers, of which the following, taken in connec. tion with the accompanyingdrawings, 1s afull, clear, and exact description. 0

This invention relates to certain unprovements in clothes washers involving the use of inverted cup shape dashers rigidly united side to side and having their open bottoms disposed inplanes at an angle to each other so as to form a medial bearing between the cups upon which the washers are adapted to rock upon the clothes.

The primary object is not only to avoid the laborious operation of raising and low ering the dasher into and out of contact with the clothes but also to produce a practically continuous washing operation by merely rocking the washer back and forth as it rests upon the clothes, thereby forcing the water and air through the clothes under one dasher while the water and air is being drawn through the opposite dasher under a tilting or rocking motion. In other Words, I have sought to render the operation of washing clothes less laborious and more expeditious than is possible with the use of a single dasher or with separate dashers operated simultaneously or alternately in direct lines, owing to the fact that the tilting of the dashers about the medial fulcrum breaks the suction and, therefore, enables each dasher to be more easily rocked upwardly out of the water or away from the clothes and still with suilicient suction to draw the water through such clothes as each dasher is rocked upwardly upon its fulcrum and reversely the downward tilting movement of each dashertends to trap a less amount of air therein than would be possible under direct upward and downward movement and at the same time a sufficient quantity of air to afford a yielding cushion as the underside of each dasher approaches a horizontal position in contact with the clothes, thus forcing the water through such clothes aided by the cushion effect of the trapped air.

Other objects and uses will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawings lligures 1 and 2 are respectively a side elevation and a top plan of a hand washer embodying the features of my invention, the full lines in Fig. 1 showposition.

ing the washer in one extreme position While the dotted lines indicate its other extreme Fig. 3 is an enlarged inverted plan of the same washer. Fig. 1 is an enlarged longitudinal vertical sectional view of the washer taken on line 44;, Fig. 2..

This washer comprises an elongated cupshape shell -lhaving circular ends, divided midway between its ends by a transverse partition -2, thereby forming a pair of inverted. cup-shape dashers aand -a, rigidly united side to side at the partition line. The shell l-- is angular vertically or rather its opposite halves are disposed in planes at an obtuse angle to each other, this angle being such that when the open bottom of one dasher is in a horizontal position, the outer end of the open bottom of the other section will be elevated above the plane of the top of the first named section, as shown. more clearly in Fig. 1, thereby affording ample clearance for the outer end of one section from the clothes while the other section is rocked downwardly to a horizontal position thereon. The medial. points of the lower edges of the sides of the shell 1*- and also the lower edge of the partition 2-- connecting said medial points constitute a fulcrum midway between the ends of the shell adapted to rest upon the clothes. and about which the shell is adapted to be rocked in reverse directions, as for example by means of a handle --3- which is rigidly connected by brace bars 4 to the upper sides of the dashers. The main shell preferably comprises a top wall. -5 which, in this in stance, is imperforated and forms the top of both dasher sections and is also rigidly united. to the upper edge of the transverse partition --2--.

ll-igidly secured to the marginaledge of the top 5 is a continuous outer pendant flange -G and an inner continuous marginal flange'7 spaced apart from the outer flange to form an intervening chamber 8--- extending from top to bottom. of the shell. This shell may, therefore,

be said to have a hollow double wall, the

outer wall or flange -6- being of some greater vertical depth than the inner wall. --7 so that its lower edge is disposed in a plane below that of the inner wall. The upper portion of the outer flange 6- is provided with vent openings -9-- which are normally covered by protective shells -10- which are united to the outer sides of the shell -6 above and at the sides of their respective openings -9 and inclined downwardly and outwardly therefrom so as to deflect any water or air which may be forced through the openings -9- downwardly toward the bottom of the dashers and to prevent said water or air from being thrown upwardly over the sides of the tub in which the washer is operated. The lower edges of the inner shell -7 are substantially parallel with and some distance above the corresponding lower edges of the outer shell, thus forming two contact surfaces for the clothes in different planes and in addition to these flanges, each dasher section is provided with a central circular flange --ll rigidly, secured to and, dependent from the upper wall 5 but spaced apart from the surrounding walls of the inner shell T- and of considerable less vertical height than the inner or outer shell so that their lower edges lie in planes some distance above but parallel with the corresponding lower edges of the flanges -'7- to afford additional contact surface for the clothes.

It is now evident that each dasher section is provided with a series, in this instance three, contacting flanges located in different planes and gradually reducing in height from the outermost flange --6 to the innermost flange ll. The inner flange 11 is held firmly in place by radial braces 12- rigidly uniting said inner flanges 11-to the surrounding flange 7- and to the central transverse partition 2- and, therefore, additionally .bracing the partition. The lower edges of these braces 2- incline downwardly and lat erally from the lower edges of their respective rings or flanges 1l to approximately the lower edges of the shell 7 and partition 2-, thereby exerting a wedging action upon the clothes whichanay be within the lower end of each dasher section to more effectively concentrate the clothes toward the center of the particular dasher which may be depressed.

The main feature of the invention, however, consists in providing an inverted cupshape shell elongated in one direction and divided transversely. intermediate its ends by a transverse partition, thereby produc- Copies of this patent may be obtained for .fivc cents each by addressing the tition, the opposite stantially uniform depth ing separate compartments or dasher sectionsrigidly united to each other and having their lower open sides disposed in planes at an angle to each other so that the apex at the partition line constitutes a fulcrum upon which the washer may be rocked backwardly, and forwardly upon the clothes without raising the washer therefrom.

It is now evident that when the dasher is rocked in one direction by means of the handle -3-,or other operating mechanism, one of the dashers will be forced downwardly and the other upwardly and vice versa, as the washer is rocked in theoppo site direction, the downwardly moving washer together with the trapped airthere in serving to force the water through the clothes while the upwardly moving dasher serves to draw the water through another portion of the clothes, thus producing a practically continuous washing action in either direction of movement which enables the washing to be done much quicker with considerably less labor than a single reciprocatory dasher operated by hand and, at thesame time,'this tilting or rocking movement enables the dashers to be forcedinto and out of the water or into and out of contact with the clothes with greater ease than by direct upward and downward movement at right angles to the lower contacting surfaces of the dashers.

What I claim is:

l. A clothes washer comprising an elongated cup-shape shell having circular ends and a transverse partition midway between said ends dividing the shell into similar parts each inclining upwardly from the parsides of each part being tangential to the adjacent portions of the circular, ends.

2. A clothes washer comprising an elongated shell open at the bottom and of subfrom end to end, and a transverse partition dividing the shell into two equal parts, said parts inclining upwardly from the partition.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 8th day ofFebruary 1913. EMILUS F. \VALLACE. Witnesses: a

' H. E. CHASE,

EVA E. GREENLEAF.

Commissioner of Patents,

, Washington, D. C. 

